Yeah, not quite the run-down of the results from the most recent weekend, but a rather astonishing piece of poetry by Roger Emerson in the style of Chaucer:
http://www.4ncl.co.uk/download/special/ ... merson.pdf
Spotted on the 4NCL website. Some people named, some not... (try working out the identities of the un-named people!).
4NCL poetry
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Mike Truran
- Posts: 2393
- Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 3:44 pm
Re: 4NCL poetry
My girth a little wide? Humph.
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David Robertson
Re: 4NCL poetry
The power of poetry to amuse and entertain, to bind a team, and even to inspire, should not be under-estimated. Following Roger Emerson's heroic Chaucerian paean to his squad, first published elsewhere a little while back, I published this to my squad last Friday evening prior to setting off for a crucial and challenging weekend. A couple of members, bless 'em, thought I'd written it specially for the occasion 
I'm capable of it, of course.
Upon St Valentine's Day
He which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Valentine.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Valentine.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say “To-morrow is Saint Valentine”
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say “These wounds I had on Valentine’s day.”
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words -
Lund, Ivell, Carleton and Mitchell,
Smith and Jackson, Grubmaster and Hall -
Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Valetine shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered -
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Valentine’s day.
And did it inspire? Well, my rallying call to our troops at the end was "Off with the King's head!". In due course, the head did indeed come loose, but not wholly from our martial efforts. Alas, by a course of farcical events that will doubtless be described elsewhere, the King's head simply fell off. Next day, however, we joined in a thunderous battle with the Baby Barbies, a match generously described by Jonathan Rogers in his 'report' thread as "easily among the best 2nd Division matches (he'd) ever seen". Just as well we had some poetry then. We needed it!
I'm capable of it, of course.Upon St Valentine's Day
He which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Valentine.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Valentine.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say “To-morrow is Saint Valentine”
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say “These wounds I had on Valentine’s day.”
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words -
Lund, Ivell, Carleton and Mitchell,
Smith and Jackson, Grubmaster and Hall -
Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Valetine shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered -
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Valentine’s day.
And did it inspire? Well, my rallying call to our troops at the end was "Off with the King's head!". In due course, the head did indeed come loose, but not wholly from our martial efforts. Alas, by a course of farcical events that will doubtless be described elsewhere, the King's head simply fell off. Next day, however, we joined in a thunderous battle with the Baby Barbies, a match generously described by Jonathan Rogers in his 'report' thread as "easily among the best 2nd Division matches (he'd) ever seen". Just as well we had some poetry then. We needed it!
Last edited by David Robertson on Mon Feb 16, 2015 5:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Christopher Kreuzer
- Posts: 8820
- Joined: Fri Aug 06, 2010 2:34 am
- Location: London
Re: 4NCL poetry
I suspect the actual games in the Spirit of Atticus vs Barbican Youth match might be more inspiring than a rather limp Shakespearean rip-off (sorry, David, but it is - did some of your team really think it was original?). Maybe one of the games could be published here?
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David Robertson
Re: 4NCL poetry
Did they? I don't suppose for one minute they did. They were likely humouring me, as kind people do sometimes. And it's not a rip-off. It's a lightweight play on the coincidence and discontinuity of St Valentine's Day (love) and St Crispin's Day (war). The playful assymetry wouldn't work for most other days